This invention relates to golf clubs, and particularly to a detachable rain cover for the handle of a golf club.
The handle portions of many golf clubs are covered with a rubber-like material. A relatively thin cover or sleeve is slipped over and around a steel shaft portion of the club. The length of the rubber sleeve is on the order of twelve inches. The steel shaft gives the handle a desired rigidity, whereas the thin rubber sleeve has a slight compressibility and friction fit in the golfer's hands, whereby the golfer can maintain a firm grip on the handle while swinging the club.
When the club is used in the rain, the surface of the handle can become wet and somewhat slippery, to the extent that the golfer may not be able to maintain a firm slip-free grip on the handle while swinging the club. The present invention is directed to a removable cover that can be slipped over the conventional rubber handle of a golf club when the club is to be used in the rain. The rain cover is formed of a porous sheet of matted fibers intertwined together in random crossing patterns so that a multiplicity of pores extend within and through the sheet. The fibers are formed of a non-absorbent material with either a silicon carbide or aluminum oxide abrasive material. Each fiber has a relatively small diameter of approximately 0.001 inch (on the order of thickness of a human hair). The wall thickness of the porous sheet is about one eighth inch (in the uncompressed state). When the golfer's hands grip the cover surface, the intertwined fibrous material in contact with the golfer's fingers is compressed toward the rubber handle surface. The ready compressibility of the porous fiber sheet enables the golfer to have essentially the same feel (or grip) on the club as he/she would normally have when the cover is not used. Thus, the effective handle diameter is approximately the same so that the golfer can use the same gripping action, stance, and arm motion as used under normal dry conditions.
Rain accumulating on the porous sheet can migrate into the pores of the fibrous material. The fiber surfaces can be wet, but due to the extremely small diameter of each fiber and the spacing between fibers, the overall surface of the rain cover is relatively rough (somewhat like sandpaper, although much more compressible and deformable). The grip of the person's hands on the roughened, compressible cover surface will cause any water within the compressed portion of the cover to be squeezed into other portions of the cover so that the presence of water on (or in) the rain cover does not interfere with a good hand grip on the cover.
I am aware of some patents disclosing golf club handles or handle covers formed of fibrous materials. U.S. Pat. No. 1,617,972, issued to R. Wallace, shows a handle formed out of woven cotton fabric. Such a fabric would readily absorb rain water, giving it a relatively slippery overall surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,115 issued to Ticktin et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,991 issued to M. McDuff each disclose handles formed of terry cloth, which is water-absorbent. The effect of rain water on the terry cloth would be a water-soaked surface wherein a slippery water film could readily form along the interface between the person's skin and the water-soaked fibers of the terry cloth.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,535 issued to G. Gagnier discloses a golf club gripping surface formed by a pile fabric that is defined by a woven backing sheet and pile yarns extending outward from the backing sheet radially away from the club handle surface. The patentee indicates that the pile material is resilient. Presumably the pile material would be a synthetic organic material, such as nylon. Such materials become relatively slippery when wet.
The rain cover of the present invention is believed to have practical advantages over the handle coverings shown in the above-noted patents.